//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Rumors on the Foal Free Press // by SuicidalAngel //------------------------------// Knock. Knock. Knock. Rainbow's ears perked up at the sudden noise. She faced the door and flew towards it at a moderate speed. Soarin, on the other side, was hoping she was here and was hoping she would answer the door. Much to his relief, the cloud door opened to reveal a cyan mare with a colorful mane. "Oh, hey Soar! What's up?" Dash asked trying to sound as casual as possible. A blush rose to her cheeks at the concerned look on his face. "Is everything okay? Have you read the paper from your village's school house?!" She didn't want to nod, seeing as it might make the situation easier for her, but instead, she nodded truthfully. "Oh, no...." "Don't worry, I was shocked too," Dash explained,"Although what is strange is the pony who wrote the article-" "Seemed to have clear evidence?" He interrupted. Dash raised her brow slightly. "No...they don't exist anymore...or at least they shouldn't..." "Oh..." Soarin said with a slight blush. Retracing what she said, his mind was puzzled. "They shouldn't exist?" She nodded. "Gabby Gums, the writer of the article, was actually three fillies. Applebloom, my friend Applejack's sister, Sweetie Belle, Rarity's sister, and Scootaloo." "She's that fillie who you say admires you?" He asked. Rainbow nodded for what seemed like the fifth time. "Yes, but they promised they would never go back to writing gossip about other ponies. And from how much we've....asked....them, they deny having anything to do with the column." Soarin chuckled. "You didn't interrogate with them, did you?" "I will ask you POLITELY one last time...." Applebloom gulped. "WHICH ONE OF YOU THREE DID IT?!" "IT WASN'T ME, I SWEAR!" "We were as polite as possible," Dash stated. "Okay..." Soarin smiled. "Yes...now, what are we gonna do about the rumors?" Asked Rainbow. "I don't know yet..." Soarin admitted. "First, I think we definitely need to find out who did this." "But how? I mean, we know the writer is definitely a student here but...there are hundreds!" "Well, we know for sure that three aren't responsible for it, right?" He asked. She looked at him, a tad confused. "Well...yes, but...that helps us how?" "We can have them as an inside source! They can help us by eavesdropping on their classmates!" "Way to be subtle..." Dash chuckled. "That's a good idea, though." "I know," he said puffing his chest. "I'm soooo smert!" Rainbow rolled her eyes smiling. "What'll we do if it doesn't work?" "Well, do you have any brilliant ideas?" He asked teasingly. "As a matter of fact, I do, smert guy!" She teased back. "It's less risky than yours even." "Oh, is it really?" He asked in an english accent. "Do tell." "I'm sure I can convince Ms. Cheerilee to get on the foals' tails and find out who's behind this," Rainbow explained. "And then we won't have to resort to having three fillies stalk their classmates for our answers." Soarin crossed his hooves as Rainbow released a smirk. "Well, genius, what will we do once we figure out who it is?" "DUH, we'll....we will....I actually haven't thought of that..." Both stared at each other for a few seconds before turning away blushing. "So, uh...what did you first think..when you..umm," Soarin started nervously. Dash smiled and hid behind her mane. "When you read...the rumor...article...thing." "Well...uhh. Hehe. I was kind of...shocked," Rainbow Dash stopped as she realized he'd just been standing in the doorway since he got there. "Oh. Shoot! Umm, come in, please...I...sorry just...yeah." Soarin chuckled softly. He trotted into the cloud home and went over to her living room. "Geez, how long has it been since I've been here?" "Long...very. I'm surprised you still knew the address!" Rainbow joked. "Oh please, don't think so highly of my memory. As long as you see a giant-ass cloud blob only feet above ground, what else could it be?" "A cloud?" "With rainbow falls?" "It's a possibility, yes." He snorted. "Fair enough. Anyway, I believe I asked you a question?" Dash giggled softly. "Did you? I don't believe so..." "Oh, believe it, baby." Rainbow Dash's eyes widened and her cheeks became red. She could hear Soarin muffle a snort. "Well...I just...I hadn't thought about it..." She said, looking down. "I was angry for the most part, I guess..." Soarin's eyebrows shot up for a split second. "You were angry at the thought of being in a relationship...with me?..." He looked down slightly. "Yes. Wait...no. I just...I wasn't expecting it..." She corrected him. He started feeling a strong urge in his eyes. "Would it be so bad..?" He whispered. "Kind of, yeah." She said softly. " I mean... I wouldn't say it's you or anything, but don't you find a relationship between us kind of...y'know...weird?" "How? How would it be weird?!" Soarin said a bit defensively. "Because you're my friend!" She declared. "You aren't actually taking this little rumor seriously, are you?" He turned away from her, not knowing whether to feel angry or depressed. One thing for sure, he felt betrayed. "Look, I'm sorry Soarin...I didn't mean as it could never happen or whatever...I just mean-" "-No," he said with a slightly sinister chuckle. "Don't try to sugarcoat it for me...." Rainbow stared at him, hoping he wouldn't feel any hate towards her. "I really didn't mean to hurt you, Soarin," she said softly. He didn't even turn to her. "Dash...don't think you're so special. You didn't hurt me. It's not like I'll ever love you anyway...." With that, he left the cloud mansion, and a certain heart broken cyan pegasus. She walked over to the door and closed it slowly, only before collapsing onto the floor with silent tears falling down her soft face. "I just...I wanted to be friends..."